Generally, I believe there are two different types of philosophies of education; and nearly all educators, curriculum, vendors, organizations, and advocacy groups fall into one of these two categories. (3.3.13 — “Type #1 and Type #2 — Two Completely Different Philosophies of Education”

Next, there are also three different types of individuals involved; and we can see this all across America.

The “green” people are those who go-along to get-along; they go with the status quo and are content to follow whatever teaching fad is in vogue at the present time. These people are not bad people but are easily deceived by those who have ulterior motives (e.g., drive-by media, national educator organizations, left-leaning politicians, CSCOPE, Common Core Standards).

The “yellow” people are those who are driven by greed, money, power, and fame. Many of these people are vendors, lobbyists, or school employees who look past the egregious content of their products so long as they themselves are benefitting. Into this group fall some CSCOPE/TESCCC/ESC employees, Thomas Ratliff, Mike Moses, Pat Jacoby, TASA, TASB, etc.

The “red” people know exactly what they are doing. They have long-term goals to change America, and they realize that the best way to do this is to indoctrinate this and succeeding generations of school children in their classrooms. Into this group fall such people as Obama, Arne Duncan, Linda Darling-Hammond, Bill Ayers, the National Education Organization, and many other left-leaners.

Politicians can come in all different colors – green, yellow, and red. Those who blindly follow are green. Those who seek fame, fortune, and/or control for themselves are yellow. Those whose aim is to change America from a capitalist, free-market Republic into a Socialist, Communist, Marxist country are red.

I do not believe that very many of our Texas Legislators fall into the “red” category, but I do believe many of them do fall into the “green” or “yellow” categories.

TEXAS’ NEW TYPE #1 CURRICULUM STANDARDS (TEKS)

Here are the links to the TEKS as posted on the official Texas Education Agency website for the four core courses adopted by the SBOE starting in May 2008 through May 2012:

The TEKS (curriculum standards – not curriculum) tell school districts/educators WHAT to teach. It is left up to the local teachers to decide HOW to teach them.

As you look over the TEKS, you will find that most of them are knowledge-based, academic, grade-level-specific for each grade level or each course; and the standards (i.e., elements) are largely measurable. Those were the parameters set by the elected SBOE back in 2005-2006 before they started adopting the new set of TEKS. These specific parameters were set so that the writing teams would be forced into Type #1.

As you scan through the various subjects and grade levels in the new TEKS, please notice the verbs used at the beginning of the standards. The verbs have deliberately been chosen to bring measurability to the standards such as identify, create, interpret, locate, examine, describe, explain, compare, summarize, master, demonstrate, follow, communicate, incorporate, use, apply, evaluate, organize, etc.

This is the Type #1 philosophy of education – no subjectivity, feelings, opinions, etc. The new Type #1 TEKS emphasize academic knowledge – the right answer – instead of the “process.” This is why school districts that have become totally fixated on constructivist, project-based learning (e.g., CSCOPE districts) are not in alignment with the Type #1 TEKS because the constructivist/project-based activities glorify the process rather than the right answer.

Can you find any of the new TEKS that say discover, give your opinion, what do you think, etc.? These are Type #2 verbiage.

(One of our SBOE members made it a habit each time he visited a school district and viewed a technology demonstration or a science experiment of some kind to go up to a student afterwards and ask him to verbally explain what he just proved. The SBOE member said he hardly ever found a student who could actually explain the concepts underlying the demonstration/experiment.)

Because of the parameters set by the SBOE for the new TEKS before the writing teams even met, the new Type #1 TEKS elements can be measured on the STAAR/End-of-Course tests largely through objective questions and answers. Because of these parameters, the constructivist, project-based philosophy of education as seen in CSCOPE does not align well with these new TEKS and explains why the CSCOPE schools did worse on their STAAR/EOC’s than did the non-CSCOPE schools. This also should help us to understand why we must not lose the “measuring stick” — the STAAR/EOC’s.

If the truth were known, I imagine Pearson really enjoyed producing and then setting up the “answer keys” for the STAAR/EOC tests for Texas because our standards are clear, precise, and measurable. Producing a test for a “road map” (Type #1) is much easier than producing a test for a “wish list” (Type #2).

RESULTS OF TYPE #1

If we want our public school children to learn to read well, we must have Type #1.

If we want them to be able to speak and write English well, then we must have Type #1.

If we want them to be patriotic citizens who revere the Founding Fathers and know and honor the Constitution, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our graduates to be knowledgeable voters who know history and can analyze current events based upon the past and the present, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our public school children to recognize that they and the whole world were created by a Higher Being, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our public school children to know their math facts to automaticity, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our public school children to be able to do well in foreign languages, then we must have Type #1 that teaches the phonetic sound system and grammar/usage in English so that they can apply that to their foreign language learning.

If we want our public school children to read the great pieces of literature that have connected our country to past generations, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our public school children to have the skills and knowledge they need for college and/or the workplace, then we must have Type #1.

If we want to turn out scientists who are well read, logical, analytical, and who can write down their scientific conclusions, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our graduates to be able to write compositions built upon facts and persuasive techniques, then we must have Type #1.

If we want our high-school students to know how to research a topic and then put that information into well-written text, we must have Type #1.

If we want legislators who are well read and who have a deep understanding of world history/American history/U. S. legal system and how those apply to current events, then we must have Type #1.

________________________________________________

Click the photo to sign the Petition and Join the movement to#StopCSCOPE

Women On the Wall takes on the issues that matter. Sharing information and updates on our weekly radio show on Monday mornings at 10 am CST. You will not want to miss this show. We will have up to date information on CSCOPE and guests who are the experts on education and other issues that are effecting our children and grandchildren.

These vendors have a vested interest in continuing to sell their Type #2 curriculum: CSCOPE, Safari Montage, Lead4Ward, TASA iCLOUD, TASA Buy Boards, Bill Gates, Pat Jacoby’s AuthenticLearning.com, Expeditionary Learning, Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence, and many others. Please go to the bottom of the page to see the organizations that fall under the Type #2 Coalition of Essential Schools.

Turkish Gulen Harmony Charter Schools want the STAAR/EOC tests to be dumped because these schools are populated by many Turkish teachers newly arrived from Turkey who have poor English skills. How could their students do well on the 40 right-or-wrong, grammar/usage/spelling questions on the Type #1 STAAR/EOC English tests? How could their students excel on the English reading sections of the Type #1 STAAR/EOC English tests?

Believe it or not, some organizations that are pushing school choice actually want the public schools to fail. If the new Type #1 curriculum standards (TEKS) and Type #1 STAAR/EOC’s are successful in forcing public school teachers to return to the basics so that students can be successful in all of their classes, the vested school choice advocates would lose their market base.

School administrators want the STAAR/EOC’s and the entire accountability system stripped of its public pressure. Then schools could continue right along teaching Type #2 without the fear of repercussions through publicly revealed Type #1 STAAR/EOC test scores.

ACTION STEP: Immediately contact all Texas Legislators and tell them to vote against SB 1724, SB 3, and HB 5. The new Type #1 plan of 4 years of English/Science/Math/Social Studies (called 4 x 4) for graduation and the requirements of the 15 STAAR/End-of-Course tests are in the process of being implemented with this year’s sophomores on down.

Texas Legislators must not do anything to hamper the authentic education reform that will be obvious in our Texas graduates of 2015 if the standards are allowed to remain. Backing away from these standards right now would have a devastating impact upon the future workforce in Texas.

Last posted action: Calendars Committee voted this bill out on 3/20.13.

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COALITION OF ESSENTIAL SCHOOLS – ALL TYPE #2

Asia SocietyAssessment Training InstituteCenter for Educational Policy ResearchCoalition of Essential SchoolsEducators for Social ResponsibilityEduChangeFacing History and OurselvesHarvard Graduate School of EducationHarvard Project ZeroNortheast Foundation for ChildrenNorthwest Regional Educational LaboratoryOutward Bound USAPartnership for 21st Century SkillsProject AdventurePublic Education and Business Coalition (PEBC)Technical Education Research Center (TERC)

Click the photo to sign the Petition and Join the movement to#StopCSCOPE

Women On the Wall takes on the issues that matter. Sharing information and updates on our weekly radio show on Monday mornings at 10 am CST. You will not want to miss this show. We will have up to date information on CSCOPE and guests who are the experts on education and other issues that are effecting our children and grandchildren.

ACTION STEP: REP. STEVE TOTH’S HB 760 — The CSCOPE Transparency Act To Ensure Consistent Oversight of Public School Curriculum – Please read Rep. Toth’s HB 760 posted toward the bottom of this page and then look at the list of House members who are joint authors and/or co-authors. We must have literally hundreds of House members sign on to this bill in order to get it out of the House Public Education Committee and to the House floor for a vote. This will take all of us contacting our House members and insisting that they support HB 760. CSCOPE HAS CONTRACTED WITH RESOURCES FOR LEARNING TO REVIEW SCIENCE MATERIALS

During the Texas Senate Education Committee hearing on CSCOPE last Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, one of the CSCOPE staffers mentioned that TESCCC/CSCOPE has contracted with Resources for Learning (RFL) to do an independent review of CSCOPE Science. Phase 1 of the RFL report was released on 11.29.12 (http://www.cscope.us/RFLReportSci.pdf ), and Phase 2 (the review of the actual CSCOPE lesson content) was begun in January 2013.

I would imagine that CSCOPE Science will only be RFL’s first contract and that they will be chosen to perform a similar review of the ELAR, Social Studies, and Math CSCOPE curriculum in the near future.

If TESCCC/CSCOPE is going to choose Resources for Learning to help to legitimatize the CSCOPE curriculum, then we need to know more about RFL. Are they a credible organization to do an independent review of CSCOPE, or do they have deep ties to Type #2 proponents?

When you get through reading the following information, you will see that RFL isNOT an independent nor qualified choice to review CSCOPE and that what we need is the elected members of the Texas State Board of Education to be charged with the responsibility of putting CSCOPE through the complete textbook (i.e., instructional materials) adoption process. This process involves the public release of all CSCOPE content (except tests and keys before they are administered) so that concerned citizens can submit their evaluations through public hearings. The next step after that is for the SBOE members to prepare a list of errors/inappropriate content that the CSCOPE publishers must correct or pay a big penalty fine.

Linda Wurzbach is the President of Resources for Learning. She used to work for the Council of Chief School Officers which is closely tied to Obama’s Common Core Standards. She graduated from the University of Texas, taught in the Austin ISD, and worked for the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Remember that it was some of the TEA staffers back in 1997 that pushed for the Type #2 curriculum standards. I would imagine it is Wurzbach’s ties to a few of the TEA staffers that got her foot in the door with TESCCC/CSCOPE.

===================

JUDY JENNINGS – DIRECTOR OF ASSESSMENT FOR RFL

Judy Jennings is the Director of Assessment for Resources for Learning. She is working for Northside ISD and Region 20, has worked at the TEA and at Evaluation Software Publishing. Her field is statistics and psychometrics. Nothing in her bio posted on RFL indicates that she has ever taught Science in the public schools.

This is the information that I found about Judy Jennings when she ran for the Texas State Board of Education. What this shows is that she is a leftist who has an ax to grind with the conservatives on the SBOE who worked so hard to adopt the new Type #1 ELAR, Science, Social Studies, and Math TEKS.

How can Judy Jennings do an independent review of CSCOPE curriculum when she obviously does not support the Type #1 TEKS? In fact, she says that she would like to rescind the Type #1 TEKS.

It is obvious from Jennings’ statements that she wants evolution taught as fact. The new Type #1 Science TEKS require that students be taught not only the strengths of evolution but also the weaknesses and that evolution be taught as a theory – not as a fact.

Jennings also does not support American exceptionalism in the new Type #1 Social Studies TEKS nor its emphasis on the heroes and heroines who make such good role models for our students.

Statement by TFN: Because of redistricting, all 15 seats on the Texas State Board of Education will be up for grabs in the November 2012 elections. The results of those elections will determine whether the religious right’s corrosive influence over public education will weaken or grow as the board considers what the next generation of public school students in Texas will learn about sex education, social studies, science and other subjects.

Extremists at the WheelA ultra-conservative Republicans on our Texas State Board of Education have rewritten the curriculum according to their own political agenda. Based on the advice of political extremists, they have muddled up the teaching of history, science, sex education … even math! But there is hope. Democrat Judy Jennings, a curriculum specialist, is running to bring rational decision making back to the board. She’ll take politics out of the classroom and make sure that teachers and experts are making sound curriculum decisions so our children

=================

5.22.10 – From Judy Jennings’ own pen when she was running for the SBOE seat:

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent emails, signed petitions, spoke at the State Board of Education meeting, and did whatever they could to help save education in Texas. Unfortunately, the Board chose to ignore the pleas of thousands of historians, parents, and teachers to Put Our Kids First. Instead, they chose to make further ideological changes to the social studies curriculum. On Friday, the Board passed a curriculum that included amendments characterizing global organizations as “efforts to undermine U.S. sovereignty” through “forced redistribution of American wealth to third world countries.” They also required that students be taught about “the solvency of long-term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare”…

The SBOE voted Friday to adopt Texas social studies standards that include their extremist agenda. The next two years provide additional opportunities for the State Board to make decisions based on ideology or on sound educational practice: science textbooks are scheduled for approval and adoption in 2011, social studies textbooks in 2012, and Career and Technology standards as well as Technology Applications standards will be approved in 2011. With your support, I plan to win the election this November to add one more voice of reason to the Board on behalf of the 4.7 million school children of Texas.

When I am elected to the Board I will insist on accuracy in the science and social studies textbooks that will be approved. I will also work to rescind the standards approved Friday. That will delay the implementation of the new curriculum and textbooks for a year while we go back to the standards originally proposed by the curriculum teams, and hold new public hearings. The current standards have been in place for ten years, and while I hate to delay one more year, I cannot let the students of Texas be subjected to personal ideology in the place of real history…

=======================

4.16.10 — “A Direct Conflict of Interest: Judy Jennings and the Texas State Bd. of Ed.” — by Donna Garner

Judy Jennings (Democrat) is running against Marsha Farney (Republican) for the District 10 spot on the elected Texas State Board of Education. The general election is November 2, 2010.

Judy Jennings has a Ph.D. in educational psychology which she receivedwhile working at the Texas Education Agency.

She is presently working for the Northside ISD, the Regional Education Service Center 20, and helped to manage the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Texas High School Redesign and Restructuring Grant Program.

According to the Texas Education Agency’s online checkbook register,Resources for Learning (the company for which Judy Jennings is the Director of Assessment) was paid $1,170,619.18 from 2007-2010.

I believe the public deserves to know this information since Judy Jennings is running for a spot on the SBOE. In my mind, Jennings is a type of vendor; and it is troubling to me that an education vendor tied to the TEA might be elected to the SBOE. Both the TEA and the SBOE have either direct or indirect contact with multi-million dollar contracts. Jennings and her company represent a definite conflict of interest.

Texas Education Agency Online check Register:

2007

Resources for Learning, LLC

$482, 437

2008

Resources for Learning, LLC

$343,836

2009

Resources for Learning, LLC

$220,152

2010

Resources for Learning, LLC

$124,190

TOTAL — 2007 – 2010

$1,170,617

Democrat Judy Jennings is what is called an “education establishment” candidate. She is opposed to the voter-block on the SBOE that has put our Texas schools on the road to authentic education reform by rewriting the standards in English / Language Arts / Reading, Science, and Social Studies.

If Jennings had been on the SBOE during these rewrites, she undoubtedly would have voted with the liberal SBOE members who have tried so hard to obstruct progress.

As you read through the various education ties that Judy Jennings and the other staffers at Resources for Learning have, please consider how many of these ties could directly relate back to contracts from the TEA and to decisions made by the SBOE.

How much objectivity could Judy Jennings give to her decisions on the SBOE when so many of her consultant ties would directly be impacted by her decisions?

I do not believe a person with such conflicts of interest should be elected to the Texas State Board of Education.

Wow, Democrats working for Judy Jennings, left-wing ideologue for State Board of Education, must be getting desperate. Recently, they launched another push poll on the SBOE 10 race in which they ask if voters know that Dr. Marsha Farney “attended a white-supremacist rally” last Summer…

These lefties are hoping that voters won’t ask which ‘white-supremacist rally,’ since they are actually referring to a Williamson County 4th of July weekend TEA Party Rally that was attended by U.S. Congressman John Carter, and Texas House candidates Dr. Charles Schwertner and Larry Gonzales. According to the Austin American Statesman, about 1,200 folks attended, and nary a white hood was in sight.

========================

TRACY LAUGHLIN – SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER FOR RESOURCES FOR LEARNING

Tracy Laughlin is the Senior Project Manager for Resources for Learning. She is the TEA’s project manager for Best Practices Clearinghouse. According to her bio, her fields are creative writing, communications, and program management/data analysis. She used to work for the Dana Center in Austin, Texas. Nothing is mentioned in her bio about her ever having taught Science in the public schools.

Amy Guadagnoli, Director of Creative Services for Resources for Learning, has expertise in graphic design, web site development, and visual arts. Nothing is mentioned in her bio about her ever having taught Science in the public schools.

============================

EMILY SARTAIN – RESOURCE ASSOCIATE FOR RFL

Emily Sartain is the Resource Associate for Resources for Learning. She is completing her BA at the U. of Texas. Her field of expertise is sociology and preparing reports on evaluation and assessment projects. Nothing is mentioned in her bio about her ever having taught Science in the public schools.

==========================

CHRISTY COX – COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST FOR RFL

Christy Cox is the Communication Specialist for Resources for Learning. Her area of expertise is in communications, customer service, and marketing. Nothing is mentioned in her bio about her ever having taught Science in the public schools.

============================

CARYN CAVANAUGH – DIRECTOR FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR RFL

Caryn Cavanaugh is the Director for Professional Development for Resources for Learning. Caryn is a former teacher, literacy supervisor, and assistant principal in an urban school district in New Jersey; but her particular expertise is in Balanced Literacy (Type #2) which is another term for whole language/guided reading that has been discredited by the NIH reading research. Texas’ new ELAR curriculum standards are built upon phonemic awareness/decoding skills and not upon balanced literacy/whole language/guided reading.

Sec. 8.0531. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION OVERSIGHT OF CURRICULUM-RELATED SERVICES AND PRODUCTS. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter or Section 8.001(c), the State Board of Education shall maintain oversight and direction of the activities of a regional education service center, acting alone or in collaboration with one or more other regional education service centers, concerning any service or product related to student curriculum.

(b) A regional education service center, either alone or in collaboration with one or more other regional education service centers, may not develop, administer, or provide or authorize the development, administration, or provision by a public or private entity of a service or product related to student curriculum without State Board of Education approval, including approval of the form and content of the service or product, regardless of whether the service or product is provided online, in print, or in person.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.

Primary Author

Date Filed

Toth

01/28/2013

Joint Authors

Date Signed On

Riddle

01/29/2013

Bohac

01/30/2013

Harper-Brown

01/30/2013

Kolkhorst

01/30/2013

Coauthors (21)

Date Signed On

Bell

02/01/2013

Burkett

02/01/2013

Capriglione

02/01/2013

Fallon

02/01/2013

Fletcher

02/01/2013

Isaac

02/01/2013

King, Phil

02/01/2013

Klick

02/01/2013

Laubenberg

02/01/2013

Leach

02/01/2013

Lozano

02/01/2013

Miller, Rick

02/01/2013

Paddie

02/01/2013

Perry

02/01/2013

Raney

02/01/2013

Sanford

02/01/2013

Simmons

02/01/2013

Springer

02/01/2013

Stephenson

02/01/2013

White

02/01/2013

Zedler

02/01/2013

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Today’s Texas Senate Education Committee hearing on CSCOPE was amazing. I watched the proceedings online from 8:30 A. M. until it finished around 3:15 P. M., and I took notes as fast as I could type. These may not be word-for-word, but I trust that I have captured the essence of the hearing.

Texas Senator Dan Patrick led the hearing, and these are the Senators who worked alongside him to question the witnesses: Donna Campbell, Larry Taylor, Eddie Lucio, Robert Duncan, Ken Paxton, and Kel Seliger. (As best I could tell from online viewing, Royce West and Leticia Van de Putte did not attend the hearing.)

What thrilled me is that all of us private citizens who have dug out the truth about CSCOPE and who have been vilified for our efforts were vindicated today because the evidence presented proved we were right all along.

FACTS REVEALED IN TODAY’S HEARING

CSCOPE was originally produced in 2005-2006 by outside consultants, one of whom was Linda Darling-Hammond who is tied to Obama and the Common Core Standards which is a takeover of the public schools by the federal government.

In 2009 CSCOPE was incorporated as a 501(3)(c) non-charitable organization under the TESCCC (Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative), and the 20 directors of the Education Service Centers (ESC’s) make up the board of directors of TESCCC. To do this incorporation, no legal counsel was sought from the Texas Attorney General’s office nor from the Commissioner of Education/Texas Education Agency.

Now 875 districts are using CSCOPE and pay for it with taxpayers’ dollars costing from $7 to $9 per student to “rent” CSCOPE each school year. The monies collected by the ESC’s are passed along to TESCCC and then to their fiscal agent, ESC 13 in Austin.

COST OF CSCOPE AND ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES

The Senators asked the ESC 13 witness how much school districts have paid for CSCOPE over the last several years, but that information did not seem to be readily available. Sen. Campbell mentioned that Ector County ISD alone had spent $1.7 million for CSCOPE just this school year.

Questions were also raised about whether the ESC staffers who handle CSCOPE full-time are paid by TESCCC/ESC 13 or by their own ESC’s and whether such an arrangement represents a type of double-dipping.

Sen. Campbell wanted to know who owns the proprietary property of CSCOPE if it was developed using public funds — “Do the people of Texas own it?” She also questioned whether only parents should have access to CSCOPE since all Texas taxpayers paid for it. She said there are many good educators who are active and retired who have a commitment to helping children gain a good education and that everyone in the general public should have easy access to CSCOPE — in the same way that they do to copyrighted textbooks. Sen. Campbell wanted to know where the checks and balances are to verify the content of CSCOPE.

Sen. Patrick told Wade Labay, Statewide Director of CSCOPE, that when a governmental body seeks to form a 501(3)(c), TESCCC should have sought legislative authority. None was sought by TESCCC.

The Senators were very troubled by the fact that the Texas Attorney General’s office has said that the TESCCC is a governmental body yet it is using public funds to develop its product; uses public dollars to pay its ESC employees; has no TESCCC business office; does not post its agenda; does not allow the public into its meetings; and will not allow public access to its minutes.

Photo Courtesy of Times Record News

“PLAYBOOK” RESPONSE FROM EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT

Throughout the hearing, whenever members of the “education establishment” testified (e.g., school administrators, curriculum directors, representatives from Texas Association of School Board/Texas Association of School Administrators), it was as if they spoke from one “playbook” which had obviously been put together by ESC personnel.

The common line used by the education establishment was, “Our district bought CSCOPE as a cost-saving curriculum management system to help our students to raise their academic achievement and to master the new STAAR/End-of-Course tests. Our teachers could not live without CSCOPE.”

However, when hard data and research were sought by the Senators from the “ed establishment” to prove the effectiveness of CSCOPE, none could be produced — only their subjective opinions. Almost all of the ed establishment witnesses mentioned their close-knit relationships with the ESC’s, and most said they had first heard about CSCOPE through the ESC’s. Nearly all said their districts were constantly trained by ESC staff on CSCOPE.

CONCERNS OF THOSE CLOSEST TO THE CHILD

When classroom teachers, parents, or the general public testified — the ones closest to the classroom students — they told a completely different story. One of the most poignant moments in the hearing occurred when a veteran Algebra teacher almost broke down in tears as he told of having to quit his teaching job recently because he was required to teach CSCOPE. He said he could not look his students in the eyes, knowing that he was “aiding and abetting ignorance…and giving them an allusion of an education.”

A well-credentialed education researcher, who works with many Texas school districts and who intensely dislikes CSCOPE, said she had had doors slammed in her face when she sought to uncover the ideology behind CSCOPE. She said teachers are afraid to speak out about the content of the CSCOPE lessons and the links that students are directed to investigate. Several of these links take students to sites where Wiccans are said to be similar to Christians and where Islam and Christianity are harmonized as being similar.

A current classroom teacher of 30 years’ experience told about being offended with the lesson in which students were required to make a Communist/Socialist flag. She said her father had proudly fought in World War II to keep our nation free and that our students should be taught American exceptionalism. She also said that CSCOPE content teaches none of the great novels and does not teach the young readers a systematic approach to reading using phonics. She complained that CSCOPE instead teaches whole language and that there is no formal instruction of grammar, usage, and correct writing.

This experienced teacher gave the Senators a copy of the TESCCC/CSCOPE legal document passed out during a CSCOPE 2012 summer training session that states, “To support implementation of this detailed curriculum, districts must have processes and people in place to insure that there is sustained monitoring of the curriculum and that individual teachers do not have the option to disregard or replace assigned content.” This teacher said that when parents put their children on the school bus to come to school, they are not sending them to school for a controlled and compulsory learning environment. They want their children’s teachers to be able to be creative and to meet the individual needs of each child. She said, “I want it recorded for the record that I have never voted for a conglomerate to take over the Texas school system, and parents have not either.”

Another witness said there was no need for CSCOPE because the curriculum standards (TEKS) are on the Texas Education Agency website along with many other excellent helps that teachers can use to prepare their students for the new STAAR/EOC tests. Good teachers working together can create their own timelines and lesson plans.

One witness asked why the TESCCC was incorporated as a non-profit. Was it to be able to hide the content of CSCOPE from the public? Was it to keep their meetings, minutes, and agendas secret?

TESCCC/CSCOPE PERSONNEL — OOPS!

When confronted with this evidence, the CSCOPE personnel at the hearing repeatedly admitted they had “Oops! Dropped the ball.” As the meeting proceeded, it became clear that a pattern of cover-up by Wade Libya/TESCCC/CSCOPE has been taking place since the public “sleuths” started digging out the facts. The website has been changed substantially since the Senate Education Committee public hearing was announced. Now Labay says teachers are not prohibited from allowing parents to see CSCOPE materials, but Sen. Patrick could never get a confirmed “yes” that parents could go right now and see fully their children’s CSCOPE materials 24/7.

OBJECTIONABLE CSCOPE LESSONS

When the CSCOPE lesson referring to the Boston Tea Party patriots as “terrorists” was discussed (which had been in CSCOPE for seven years), Labay said it had been removed.

When Labay was confronted with concerns over a lesson teaching the 5 Pillars of Islam, a lesson in which students role play a trek to Mecca, a lesson that teaches Allah is the same as Almighty God, a lesson on Christopher Columbus that cherry-picks his diary to take out any of his references to his belief in God, and a lesson in which students create a Communist/Socialist flag, he gave a lame excuse about those lessons having been a part of the “old” lessons, having been left in CSCOPE at the request of teachers.

One Senator said he found it perplexing that when these lessons were first revealed by the public “sleuths,” TESCCC accused these concerned citizens of circulating “fallacious claims.”

Senators Taylor and Paxton were deeply troubled about the student project in which students were to design a Communist/Socialist flag. They cautioned that teaching children to role play and sympathize with a particular cause is indoctrination of the mind, and they asked Labay to tell them who came up with that lesson plan? Labay gave the lame excuse that there are over 1600 lessons and that ESC 12 CSCOPE staffers are the ones who are in charge of the content.

One of the Senators responded, “Oh, you mean the same group that has the closed door board meetings…We have already talked about several egregious lessons today. How many more are there that are buried up in the rest of the CSCOPE lessons that we have not located yet?”

NO OUTSIDE, INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF CSCOPE

The Senators kept hammering at the fact that 875 Texas school districts have been using CSCOPE for the last seven years; yet there has been no outside, independent review of CSCOPE to make sure that its lessons align with the SBOE-adopted curriculum standards (TEKS) upon which the new STAAR/End-of-Course tests are based.

Sen. Patrick said he found it highly upsetting that it had taken the chair of the Texas State Board of Education six months to get a password to CSCOPE. Former SBOE member Charlie Garza testified that he had asked TESCCC to have extra time to study the CSCOPE lessons, but his request was denied.

It was also brought out that besides the per-student CSCOPE rental, TESCCC also makes money by charging publishers $100,000 per event to see the CSCOPE lessons so that textbooks can be produced that align with it. Other vendors pay fees, and TESCCC also makes money from its yearly educators’ conference.

Senator Patrick said that the public had brought most of the CSCOPE problems to their attention over the last six to eight months and that he was upset over the lack of transparency and the secrecy demonstrated by TESCCC/CSCOPE. He said this is the reason we need transparency, open meetings, and posted meetings — so that a governmental body cannot violate every entity of being a public entity. “How many more mistakes are there? … What is behind the curtain? … You are in 875 school districts … This is a very serious matter.”

SBOE OVERSIGHT OF CSCOPE CURRICULUM CONTENT

One Senator said he was investigating the possibility of charging the elected members of the Texas State Board of Education with the task of verifying the content of CSCOPE to make sure it is aligned with the TEKS. Barbara Cargill, the chair of the SBOE, said that the Board has a review process already in place that could be used for CSCOPE since it is being used in 70% to 80% of Texas school districts.

Cargill also mentioned her concern that TESCCC in its incorporation papers states that if TESCCC is dissolved, CSCOPE goes to the federal government. She mentioned that she is concerned CSCOPE is not aligned with publishers’ textbooks and that it is very confusing for students when they read a CSCOPE lesson (or CSCOPE test) that says one thing and a textbook that says another.

Ms. Cargill complained that CSCOPE does not align itself with the new Science TEKS in which all sides of scientific theories (both strengths and weaknesses) are to be taught. Instead, the only links she could find in the CSCOPE lessons go to material that teaches evolution as fact.

Barbara Cargill was asked by one of the Senators whether SB 6 (passed in the 82nd Legislative Session) triggered the explosive growth of CSCOPE since school administrators can now purchase CSCOPE (i.e., instructional materials including software and hardware) with state dollars without those materials having passed through the rigorous SBOE adoption process. She said that having “100 eyeballs” to evaluate the instructional materials at the SBOE level is far superior to having only a few CSCOPE employees do so.

Pat Hardy, also a member of the Texas State Board of Education, verified that CSCOPE is a curriculum [not a “curriculum mnagement system” as claimed by TESCCC/CSCOPE] and that it is the SBOE who adopts the curriculum standards — TEKS.

A parent whose children are in the public schools where CSCOPE is being utilized believes that the elected SBOE should have authority over CSCOPE. However, she has a serious reservation because one of the present SBOE members is a registered lobbyist for Microsoft; and she wonders about the possible conflict of interest and corruption that could bias the SBOE/CSOPE alignment process.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS INFILTRATING CSCOPE?

One retired science teacher said that at some point, Common Core Standards tried to purchase CSCOPE; and she is concerned because the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) is having a convention in California, using public dollars to pay for Texas school personnel to attend. At this conference, Common Core Standards and Linda Darling-Hammond will be featured. Gov. Perry and both Texas Education Commissioners have said Texas will not participate in Common Core Standards. Since CSCOPE is already in 70% to 80% of Texas’ school districts, the retired science teacher is afraid the CCS ideology could be permeating CSCOPE’s lessons right now.

CHILDREN BELONG TO PARENTS — NOT TO THE STATE

One of the last witnesses reminded everyone that children belong to their parents and not to the state; school children should be able to take their CSCOPE materials home each evening; and the public should have open access to see everything except the tests and answer keys.

Would you have believed what is in the article below 4 yrs. ago? Looking at the reality in America today would you believe it now? Is it worth the chance of it being true and not speaking out and working to stop CSCOPE in Texas!! Don’t believe me listen to Bill Ayers in the video toward the bottom of this post.

“Texas Legislators, just scan through the article below; and you will see why Common Core Standards is interested in buying CSCOPE. All that would then need to be done is to add links to CSCOPE (if they are not already there) that would take public school students throughout this country (including Texas) to the various pro-Muslim/Islamist entities listed in this article. This is just another reason why CSCOPE and all of its content must be open to the public to try to protect our children from indoctrination “at the click of a mouse.” – Donna Garner

If you are unclear as to what CSCOPE, a Texas based technology curriculum that is now in over 80% of Texas schools, both public and private listen to the Women On The Wall interview linked below:

JERUSALEM – A Muslim Brotherhood-linked organization has partnered with the U.S. Department of Education and the State Department to facilitate an online program aiming to connect all U.S. schools with classrooms abroad by 2016.

WND previously exposed that Gregorian served as a point man in granting $49.2 million in startup capital to an education-reform project founded by former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and chaired by Obama.

Documentation shows Gregorian was central in Ayers’ recruitment of Obama to serve as the first chairman of the project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge – a job in which Obama worked closely on a regular basis with Ayers.

The Qatar Foundation International, or QFI, in 2011 partnered with the Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to facilitate matchmaking between classrooms in the U.S. and international schools through something called the “Connect All Schools” project.

QFI, funded by the Qatari government, explains on its website the initiative was founded in response to Obama’s call in his June 2009 speech to the Arab world in Cairo, Egypt, to “create a new online network, so a young person in Kansas can communicate instantly with a young person in Cairo.”

The stated goal of the initiative is to “connect every school in the U.S. with the world by 2016.”

This is not the QFI’s first foray into the U.S. education system.

WND reported last May the Qatar-based foundation awarded “Curriculum Grants” to seven U.S. schools and language organizations to “develop comprehensive and innovative curricula and teaching materials to be used in any Arabic language classroom.”

QFI, based in Washington, D.C., is the U.S. branch of the Qatar Foundation, founded in 1995 by Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Thani is still the group’s vice-chairman, while one of his three wives, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairs the organization’s board.

Thani also launched Al Jazeera in 1996 and served as the television network’s chairman.

The Qatar foundation is close to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In January 2012, it launched the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics under the guidance of Tariq Ramadan, who serves as the center’s director.

Ramadan is the grandson of the notorious founder of the Muslim Brotherhood,Hassan al Banna. Ramadan was banned from the U.S. until 2010 when the Obama administration issued him a visa to give a lecture at a New York school.

QFI, meanwhile, named several institutions after Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many regard Qaradawi as the de facto spiritual leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

The foundation instituted the Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi Scholarships and in 2009 established a research center named the Qaradawi Center for Islamic Moderation and Renewal.

Qaradawi has personally attended scores of foundation events, including conferences at which he served as a keynote speaker.

Qaradawi achieved star status because of his regular sermons and interviews on Al Jazeera.

Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp. charitable foundation, was appointed by Obama in 2009 as a White House fellow. Born in Tabriz, Iran, Gregorian served for eight years as president of the New York Public Library and was also president of Brown University.

As Brown president, Gregorian served on the selection committee of the Annenberg Foundation, which funded Ayers’ Chicago Annenberg Challenge with a $49.2 million, 2-to-1 matching challenge grant over five years. Ayers was one of five founding members of the Annenberg Challenge who wrote to the Annenberg Foundation for the initial funding.

Steve Diamond, a political-science and law professor and a blogger who has posted on Obama, previously posted a letter from Nov. 18, 1994, in whichGregorian, serving as the point man on Annenberg’s selection committee, asked Ayers to “compose the governing board” of the Challenge’s collaborative project with “people who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of Chicago.”

Ayers and other founding Challenge members then recruited Obama to serve as the project chairman.

WND was first to expose that Obama and Ayers used the project grant money to fund organizations run by radicals tied to Ayers, including Mike Klonsky, a former top communist activist who was a senior leader in the Students for a Democratic Society group, a major leftist student organization in the 1960s from which the Weathermen terror group later splintered.

National Review Online writer Stanley Kurtz examined the project archives housed at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago, finding Obama and Ayers worked closely at the project.

The documents obtained by Kurtz showed Ayers served as an ex-officio member of the board that Obama chaired through the project’s first year. Ayers also served on the board’s governance committee with Obama and worked with him to craft project bylaws, according to the documents.

Ayers made presentations to board meetings chaired by Obama. Ayers also spoke for the Chicago School Reform Collaborative before Obama’s board, while Obama periodically spoke for the board at meetings of the collaborative, the project documents reviewed by Kurtz show.

WND reported Obama and Ayers also served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a liberal Chicago nonprofit that granted money to far-left causes.

One of the groups funded by the Woods Fund was the Midwest Academy, an activist organization modeled after Marxist community organizer Saul Alinsky described as teaching tactics of direct action, confrontation and intimidation.

WND reported Jackie Kendall, executive director of the Midwest Academy, was on the team that developed and delivered the first Camp Obama training for volunteers aiding Obama’s campaign through the 2008 Iowa Caucuses.

Camp Obama was a two- to four-day intensive course run in conjunction with Obama’s campaign aimed at training volunteers to become activists to help Obama win the presidential election.

Obama scholar linked to ‘Ground Zero’ imam

Meanwhile, WND reported Gregorian is closely tied to the Muslim leaders behind the controversial Islamic cultural center to be built near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Gregorian also serves on the board of the Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. The museum is reportedly working with the American Society for Muslim Advancement, whose leaders are behind the mosque, to ensure the future museum will represent the voices of American Muslims.

“[The Sept. 11 museum will represent the] voices of American Muslims in particular, and it will honor members of other communities who came together in support and collaboration with the Muslim community on September 11 and its aftermath,” stated Daisy Khan, executive director of the society.

The Sept. 11 museum’s oral historian, Jenny Pachucki, is collaborating with the society to ensure the perspective of American Muslims is woven into the overall experience of the museum, according to the museum’s blog.

Khan’s husband, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is the founder of the society as well as chairman of Cordoba Initiative, which is behind the proposed mosque to be built about two blocks from the area referred to as Ground Zero.

With Gregorian at its helm, Carnegie Corp. is at the top of the list of society supporters on the Islamic group’s website.

Carnegie is also listed as a funder of both of the society’s partner organizations, Search for Common Ground and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Gregorian was a participant in the U.N. body’s first forum, as was Rauf.

Rauf is vice chairman on the board of the Interfaith Center of New York, which honored Gregorian at an awards dinner in 2008.

World domination

Gregorian is the author of “Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith.” According to a book review by the Middle East Forum, his book “establishes the Islamist goal of world domination.”

A chapter of the book, “Islamism: Liberation Politics,” quotes Ayatollah Khomeini: “Islam does not conquer. Islam wants all countries to become Muslim, of themselves.” Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, is quoted stating it “is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its laws on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.”

Gregorian himself recommends for Muslims a system he calls “theo-democracy,” which he defines as “a divine democratic government” that, according to the book review, “would have a limited popular sovereignty under the suzerainty of Allah.”

WomenOnTheWall.org has started a nationwide media campaign to call on Women across America to stand together to defend our Nation from threats both foreign and domestic. The video linked above is for you to share with your friends and neighbors so they will understand the true nature of the threats we face.